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Description

Competition

High diving is the act of diving into water from relatively great heights. Athletes perform dives from a tower on which special diving platforms are set up. Women jump from a 20-metre high platform while men jump from a 27-metre high one. In case of men this means a free-fall of almost 3 seconds and similarly to cliff diving competitors (both men and women) need to reach water by their feet. This is because all possible measures need to be taken in order to avoid injuries, with special respect to the fact that male divers reach a speed of almost 90km/h when they splash. For this reason, at least two rescue divers await athletes in the water in case assistance is needed.

The world record of cliff diving is held by Brazilian born Swiss, Laso Shaller with a height of 58,8 meters! Thanks Gary Hunt (defending World Champion) you may also have a close look what it felt like to dive from 27 metres high at the FINA World Championships in Kazan.

High diving has presumably evolved from cliff diving, i.e. diving from natural cliffs and rocks. In high diving, artificial constructions are used instead: platforms 20 or 27 metres high.

FINA History

High diving as a sport was first introduced at the 20th FINA Technical Congress and was officially included in the programme of the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona. The first man to claim the gold medal was Orlando Duque (Colombia) while the first world champion among women was American Cesilie Carlton. In Kazan Rachelle Simpson became the winner, who worked as a professional acrobat before, and participated in the Red Bull cliff diving series. Gary Hunt became the world champion in Kazan, winning a silver in Barcelona 2013. He won the World Cup in Abu Dhabi as well. The most successful nations are the USA, Great Britain and Mexico.

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